Saturday, 8 November 2014

[Review] Samsung Series 8 65" Curved TV (UA65H8000AK)

Hey guys! I'm participating in Samsung Singapore's TV Opinion Leaders contest where I'll be testing out their latest curved LED TV. I'd super appreciate it if you guys can take a few moments to read my blog entry each week as I share my experience and thoughts on Samsung's new TV technologies!



Oh and while you're at it, I'd be so rad if you can like, comment, and share the post as well! Let me know if you have anything you'd like me to test out, I'll do my best to try it out and share the experience with you guys!



Thanks a bunch!



The original blog link can be found here Curved Life | The Samsung Curved TV Experience



But I copied it over to save you guys a few clicks. :) Now, on to the review!



Introduction



It was supposed to be a typical Saturday morning. I just got back from my awesome Hong Kong brocation, my legs barely functioning from 7512548 million steps it had to endure. I planned out my recovery weekend by being a couch potato and catch up on all the TV shows and video games I missed out. It was 10am, I was on my way to the nearby grocery to stock up some supplies for my tv/gaming marathon; but then, my phone rang.



"Hello?"



"Haro! you home mah?"



"No, I'm actually outside. Who's this?"



"aaayooh... this is delivery guy lah... I outside your flat, I have big TV from Samsu~"



"HOLD ON! STAY THERE! DON'T GO ANYWHERE! I'm on my way back!"



I ran back to my place as fast as my sore legs possibly could. I opened the basement security door, and let the delivery man do their job. As they carefully brought the box into our flat, my eyes lit up like a kid who saw Santa leaving a present on Christmas Eve. What they brought to my place was a thing to behold. *Heavy breathing*





That is my size 8.5 Jordan XI for comparison.



The glorious unboxing ceremony


Once the heavy lifting was done, the delivery guys offered to set the TV up for me. But no real geek in their right mind would let others deprive them of the single greatest moment when getting a new gadget, The Unboxing. Call me weird, but I enjoy the adrenaline rush and excitement that comes from unpacking a new gizmo. Being the nice guy that I am, I've recorded a video for you guys to share this nerdgasmic experience with me:



[YOUTUBE]Samsung UE65H8000 Curved Led TV unboxing - YouTube[/YOUTUBE]

*if player doesn't work, link can be found here Samsung UE65H8000 Curved Led TV unboxing - YouTube



With box and protective styros have been shed, I finally got to bask in the full glory and beauty of this magnificent beast.





Just gorgeous.



Inside the shipping package is this accessory box kit.





Box o' Goodies





The goodies inside.



Inside the box we get the Smart TV remote, IR Blasters, the power and AV cables, and 2 pairs of active shutter 3D glasses. Samsung was nice enough to include AA batteries for the remote and button-type batteries for the 3D glasses so I have everything I need to get everything working straight out of the box. Super awesome!



Let's talk big: Size does matter



At this point, I've already mentioned a couple of times that this TV is absolutely huge. But to give you an idea of how truly gigantic this thing is, see this pic:







The TV at the back is our old but trusty 42" inch plasma TV. Now, a 42" TV is no slouch; but compared to this 65" screen, you are looking at David vs Goliath, Diddy Kong vs King Kong, Shaq vs Kevin Hart, etc.





You get the idea.



My point is, we are looking at the big daddy of television screens. Sure, Samsung has a 110" made-to-order TV available, but most people don't have the cash and the luxury of space for that. So unless you're the son of Bill Gates or Jack Ma's brother, this is as large as it can reasonably get when it comes to home theatre experience.



Technology meets Art



With great size comes great responsibility.



A television this massive is bound the grab attention. The industrial design team at Samsung clearly understood this, and they made sure that this TV will be the centrepiece of any living room it occupies.



From the brushed metal frame, ultra thin bezel, almost edge-to-edge glossy screen; the minimalistic design approach oozes with subtle class and elegance without being too obnoxious.





Shiny metal frame. check. Thin black bezel. check.





It definitely knows how to stay classy.



The team really took every detail into account when they designed this. They could have lazily stuck a typical squarish base or the familiar 'X' shaped stand into the TV and no one would bat an eye. But instead, they designed an all new curved base stand they call Aero Stand, to compliment the new curved screen (which I will get to in a bit).





The Aero Stand



Okay, I'm gonna be honest with you. I am a wall-mount-it kind of guy. 9 out of 10 times, I'd choose to wall-mount a TV for 2 reasons: 1) Space Saving. and 2) I hate base stands. But the Aero Stand may actually be the thing that may convince me to let a TV sit on top of the rack instead of hovering above it.



For my 1st reason, this can easily be solved by moving to a bigger flat. But my 2nd reason is a but trickier. You see, I am guy who appreciates great design, and I'm especially fond of minimalistic, industrial, unibody design approach. And my usual gripes with the way how televisions are designed is how often it seems like the stand is put in as an after thought. The stands more often than not, look like they were put there for the sake of making the TV structurally stable rather than making it part of the TV. This ultimately detracts the aesthetics and visual impact of the product.





Imagine this TV without the ugly base. Notice how much better it would look without it.



With the Aero Stand, Samsung might have just created the first stand that I actually don't detest. The Aero Stand conveys the same minimalistic design and elegance of the screen panel, and it actually looks like it's part of the TV's full aesthetics. One thing I noticed is how the stand's backbone, the "spine" that physically connects the screen panel to the footstand, is almost invisible when viewed from the front. Combined with the metallic finish and equally curved form factor, the stand positively contributes to the overall aesthetic of the entire television.



Of course, If you prefer having this TV hanging on you living room wall, you absolutely can. The back panel comes with the necessary screw holes to fulfill all your wall-mounting needs.





The Aero Stand visually complements the curved panel. But Carlos Boozer still missed that shot, and the Lakers still got an a**whooping.



I've only had the TV for less than 2 days so I'll need more time to tinker and play around with all the features (trust me, there is A LOT) that's been packed into this awesome device. So please check back next week for more in-depth analysis and as I share my personal thoughts and experience with the Samsung 65" Curved TV.



If you like this article, please Like, Comment, and Share this post/blog to your friends and family! And if you have any specific feature or scenario you'd like me to try out, any movies you'd recommend, games to play; leave a comment on the post and I'll definitely try my best to put it into the next article.



Thanks for reading and stay classy! *brofist bump*







This post is made as part of the Samsung Curved TV Opinion Leader Facebook Contest. Please note that all opinions expressed here are of the writer's and do not represent Samsung.





via Hardware Forums http://ift.tt/13YyfOx

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